We have all received the blessing of being alive, but it is up to each of us to develop our lives to their full potential. In school or in daily life, have you had the chance to learn principles that support a high-quality life? Some people drive their lives the way they want but others are driven by the situations they encounter. What makes the difference? With the time you have remaining, do you have goals for how you want the rest of your life to go?
If you’ve been tuning in to the news recently, you’ve probably noticed a lot of talk about living longer. The possibility of living longer is increasingly on our minds, as evidenced by the number of studies and articles appearing in research and news publications. In the near future, the fields of medicine, nutrition, environmental science, engineering and public policy may all face potentially revolutionary challenges due to an aging population. But individually, we also face important questions, not just about how to live longer, but how to live better.
A lot of the discussion of longevity and quality of life focuses on how-to aspects, and rightly so. Rather than assuming that long-term health is primarily the result of genetics, and therefore beyond your control, recent findings emphasize the importance of factors that you can control. In a National Geographic Article entitled “On Beyond 100” (subscription required to view) Stephen Hall summarized the current scientific understanding of longevity by saying “in the end, genes probably account for only 25 percent of longevity. It’s the environment too, but that doesn’t explain all of it either.” So what else affects your long-term health, besides genetics?
It turns out that your mind may play a large role in determining your longevity and quality of life. Jane Brody wrote an article in the NY Times entitled, “A Positive Outlook May Be Good for Your Health, ” highlighting the power of the mind. Brody reports on a study from the Journal of Gerontology, saying, “Becca Levy and Avni Bavishi at the Yale School of Public Health demonstrated that having a positive view of aging can have a beneficial influence on health outcomes and longevity.” As for why this is true, Brody reports that Dr. Levy describes both a psychological and a physiological effect, in which a positive outlook can “enhance belief in one’s abilities, decrease perceived stress and foster healthful behaviors,” as well as reduce stress-related inflammation in the body.>
So is living a long, happy life a matter of just being positive? In a way, yes. Although you can never completely ensure your long term health, no matter how hard you try, having a positive mindset can increase your chances of living long and well.
Another interesting article from the NY Times Personal Health section, “How to Increase Your Chances of Living a Long, Healthy Life,” (again by Jane Brody), points out that most people have access to a wealth of information about how to live a healthier, longer life. Even so, there are still far too many deaths due to preventable diseases- those illnesses resulting primarily from poor lifestyle habits and a lack of preventative care.
As a representative of Body & Brain Yoga, I attended a conference on Aging and Longevity at the United Nations this spring. One of the presenters made a comment highlighting the challenge of getting people to take action on what they know, saying, “everyone knows that exercise would help them live longer and healthier, but a lot of people don’t do it. I don’t think that’s going to change.”
Is this viewpoint pessimistic or realistic? Is your longevity and quality of life a matter of waiting for someone or something outside to change, or do you have the power to change your life more proactively? And if you do believe you have the power to change, how do you activate that power?
As you know, a positive outlook is important to longevity and quality of life, and in I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years, Ilchi Lee answers the question of how you can change your outlook. According to him, when you make a strong choice to live a long, healthy life, your actions start to change. Why should you make this strong choice? What is the reason to live well, and long? Is it just for your emotional pleasure? To remain with those you love for as long as possible? To satisfy your curiosity and desire? While these can be meaningful and rewarding reasons, for many people they are not reason enough to make the choice to change.
One of the implied truths from I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years, something which is easy to forget, is this: change takes work. "You don't get something for nothing," as the saying goes. And, strange as it may sound, some people might feels it's too much work to live better (after all, nothing is guaranteed even to those who do work on changing their habits).
As Ilchi Lee says in I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years, the key is to get in touch with our sense of unconditional self-love and self-worth. ;“We are nature,” he writes, and something as simple as having time to feel and connect with nature can help us get back in touch with that essential truth. Knowing that life is temporary, that eventually, it ends, how can we best use the time we have? Through exercise, meditation, and goal planning, we can become masters of their ‘why’ and therefore can take full advantage of the ‘how.’
So each time you see an article claiming to share new evidence on how to live longer, take a moment to also remind yourself why you want to live longer. Then, when you find something truly beneficial, you'll have the energy to take action.
If you are interested in creating a high-quality life based on timeless principles of health, happiness and growth, you can inquire at your local Body & Brain Center.